Splash of Style...Macs, Photography, Design, and other Passions

ReDesigning a Web Site with Expression Engine

May 16, 2009 by debbie T | Content Management • CSS • Expression Engine • Web Design • Web Development • XHTML

I have been a faithful Expression Engine user since 2004. I was lucky enough to be one of the thousand or so people who received free copy way back when. Movable Type had just released version 3, and there was a huge uproar over the new licensing agreement. Pmachine (Expression Engine) decided to take advantage of the bad publicity and give away a ton of free copies (originally $149).

Anyway, I have been a fan ever since. Yeah, version 1.5 might be looking a little long in the tooth, but it works for me. I know they are busy perfecting the new 2.0 version so it’ll be worth the wait.

So, back to the point of this post. I use Expression Engine on another large web site I have. It’s been almost 4 years since I last designed it, and it’s in bad baaaad need of a redesign. It’s true that if you don’t use it, you lose it; a lot of my web coding knowledge has been tucked away into back pockets in my brain, so it’s also been a challenge to relearn CSS. There has been so many new tips and tricks, and the good news is, no need to design for old outdated browsers. I do still need to worry about IE6 users, but further back than that, nope. Done!

So, for the past week or so, I have rolled up my sleeves and concentrated on relearning CSS and the Expression Engine design tags & templates. It’s been a blast. I forgot how much I loved coding!

My Process

I don’t know if anyone will care about my redesign process, but I figured that I would try to document it anyway, at least for my own sake.

Where to start? Read the Rest of the Article

Google Books

February 26, 2009 by debbie T | Books • CSS • Digital Photography • Internet • Web Design • Web Development • XHTML

I know I knew about this before, but never really looked into it….but Google has a very large collection of books to browse.

http://books.google.com/books

Add the books to “Your Library” so you can save them for later. There’s tons of web design, html, css, and photography books available, with links to Amazon & Barnes and Noble. Very cool!

MacRabbit Espresso Public Beta

December 30, 2008 by debbie T | CSS • Mac Software • Web Design • Web Development • XHTML

Wheee! yay, finally!

MacRabbit is now offering a public beta for their new code editor named “Espresso”

Oh I wish I could play. My Macbook Pro is staying at Applecare Hospital, and I don’t know if I will be getting it back soon.

It is something I have been looking forward to for awhile though. It looks really great, I can’t wait to check it out on my MBP!

http://macrabbit.com/espresso/

Panic Releases Coda for Mac

April 24, 2007 by debbie T | CSS • Mac Software • Web Development • XHTML

Yesterday, Panic announced the release of Coda 1.0, an all in one web developer’s tool for Mac OS X. I love Panic’s FTP app Transmit, so I am looking forward to checking it out further.

Other Web Resources:

Hopefully tonight, I will have time to download the trial and experiment.

TechCheatSheets.com

July 16, 2006 by debbie T | CSS • Internet • Web Development • WordPress • XHTML

I love cheat sheets! Found a great resource at Tech Cheat Sheets.

Besides various cheatsheets for php, css, and html, you can also find WordPress Themes and Microformats cheatsheets.

I just used their easy submit form to send the URL for the Expression Engine Quick Reference cheat sheet.

Dan Cederholm on Inside the Net

April 26, 2006 by debbie T | CSS • Podcasting • Web Design • XHTML

This week, Dan Cederholm from Simple Bits was the guest interview on the Inside the Net podcast.

I think this has to be one of my all time favorite podcast interviews. Dan is so down to earth and it’s refreshing to hear conversation about standards and web design.

Top Style Tips

May 20, 2004 by debbie T | CSS • Web Design • Web Development • XHTML

For those interested in learning more about TopStyle, Nick Bradbury has a very informative new blog for TopStyle Tips

MACCAWS

April 9, 2004 by debbie T | CSS • Web Design • Web Development • XHTML

Word is out and I want to remember the MACCAWS site for future reference. I know it will come in handy. “Making A Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards” is a resource for web developers and clients alike.

Thanks Ranjan and Farron.